Questing Journal
Session 1 The party is sent out by the watch commander Kline to investigate a group of reported bandits on the outskirts of town. After following a path described by Kline, the party encounters a group of Goblins which are handily dispatched. Following their tracks leads the party to a camp built around a hollowed out tree. Investigating the tree reveals a hidden path that leads underground. Sneaking down the path Enna discovers a room lit with torches. Inside the room is a hobgoblin with what appears to be two scaly chickens. Enna attempts to lure the hobgoblin into the corridor by imitating one of its companions. This attempted deception fails and alerts hobgoblin to our presence. A harrowing battle ensues resulting in Daos and Enna being rendered unconscious and the rest of the party being left with little health. A mysterious glowing stag appears and revives the fallen members before disappearing again. Enna believes it to be an agent of the Green Man. After the fight the party decides to camp inside the tree-cave and upon awakening loot the room and get ready to move out. While searching the Hobgoblin Enna discovers a scroll with a message mentioning the dispatch of a messenger. While the group assembles, Enna scouts for any tracks leading away from the camp. Eventually she discovers a set that do not fit any of the creatures we have encountered and the group decides to follow that out. After following the tracks for most of the day we finally begin to gain ground after increasing our pace. We notice a campfire in the distance and begin to slow. As we closed on the camp a massive Bug Bear leaps out of trees next to us. Nex gains some information from the creature after using a Charm spell and confirms that it is the messenger sent by the Goblins. Unfortunately, the spell was broken before we could discern its destination. In a fury the Bug Bear goes after Nex after realizing he was the source of his confusion. After a heated battle which lead to Nex being temporarily rendered unconscious. Daos eviscerates the fallen Bug Bear in anger remembering the death of his comrade in arms. We loot the Bug Bear and decide to rest at his camp for the night. On the corpse we discover a sealed letter with a sigil and language we don't recognize. After spending the night we decide to head back to Yohnsbehr to consult with Kline about what our next step would be. On the way back we encounter a trade caravan and sell off some miscellaneous items and purchase a few potions and ale. We make camp with the group before moving on to Yohnsbehr the next morning. Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Session 6 Session 39 The dwarf Gina Helmsmith comes to the Talticin townhouse to meet the Brushstriders at the time agreed upon. She tells us that her household's children and their caretakers seem to have been kidnapped from the mines, and they would like some discreet help in getting them back. They are prepared to reward us. We agree, and Gina takes us to the mines. When we arrive at the area where the children were last seen, we go through a passage into a very dark tunnel. Lia casts light on Daos' shield so that we can see an additional 20 feet in front of us. We come upon a pond and see several large, dead salamanders. We also notice some small patches of blood. Daos and Lia notice drag marks and signs of a struggle in this area. It looks like there were three sets of drag marks. Sensing no traps, we turn the corner into a different corrider and encounter an Under Orc. It comes at us with a morningstar! It hits Daos for 16 damage. We see four more Orcs around the corner: one in full chainmail with a large axe and spear, one dressed in half-plate with a giant sword and javelins, the other two are elite warriors in full plate with axes and javelins. They are all have dark skin and blue eyes. After a battle in which we fairly well dominate, we manage to take down the Orcs. I leave the second in command alive but unconscious. Daos questions him, but he doesn't give us much information, just that they took some children and that if we keep going we might find him. So Daos kills him. We take the 20 GP that they had on them; Daos takes 4 javelins. We continue down the corridor and notice arrow traps on the ceiling. Enna successfully disables them. We continue on and encounter a pit trap, which Lia disables. Along the corridor, we encoutner a semicircle of armor figures and an Orc behind them. Beside him is a large black dog-like creature. The Orc rises at our entrance and we see the glimmer of magic surround him. (Mage Armor) The Orc tells us that the children were taken as a message that this war with the dwarves will not be a clean one. He tells us that we cannot have them back and a fight ensues. It does not go well for us and we sustain heavy damages. Mid battle, the Castor Orc seemingly disappears into this air and gets away. We have to take a short rest after the battle to try to lick our wounds. Session 40 Rowan goes back to see if she can get us help after we have licked our wounds. There is a set of two doors behind the highback chair. Lia investigates and sees that this room has not been used in a very long time. Mellna and Enna discover several sets of tracks, including children, going through the doors. Daos opens the doors, and we see signs of people being dragged. Lia checks for traps and notices none. We tromp to the other end where there are two more large, wooden doors. Daos peeks into those doors and notices that it is a kitchen. In the distance, 20 feet off, Daos notices a humaoid wearing armor. It sees him, and Daos warns the others. Then another comes out very near to Daos. We fight them bravely, and Mellna takes significant damage. We eventually defeat them. We find 7 Drow children and 3 Drow adults in the meat locker. We cut their ropes and lead them back out the way we came. When we come back to the lake, we see Rowan waiting for us. Across from her are a group of Drow. The tall thin woman in fine robes and jewelry introduces herself as Rance Eliria. She tells us that the Dwarf who came to us was actually a Drow in disguise. She gives us the chest with oil and pearls that we were promised. Rance offers us a choice of two jobs in an attempt to be emissaries between the Drow and the Dwarves. We can either kill off the Orcs that are causing issues for both races, or we can try to make friends with the Dwarves. Either way, our reward will be 3000 GP. We decide to kill the Orcs. We head back to the Talticin mansion. They draw us a bath and help us prepare for dinner. The dinner is very fine, and much of the family is there and we are attended by all of the servants. There is duck and vegetables for dinner. We tell Rinauld's Aunt Shona about the Orcs in the underdark. She was not aware of them. We tell her about our bargain with Rance to run them out and tell her how long we think we'll be gone. We tell Rinauld's grandmother about Yohnber and how we want to build a wall and a trade post and train a town guard for Yohnber, but that we need money. Rinauld discusses the terms of a loan with Shona. She agrees to the terms: they will loan us 15000 GP, which we will repay over a term of several years. In return, we will make a trade deal for the Talticins with the Dwarven king in the Steel Mountains. Also, the Talticins will only have to pay one quarter of the usual taxes when trading with Yohnber. Nex shows back up the next morning and is very upset that Mellna is adventuring with us. He sends her back to Yohnber. We give her some of the Talticin gold and charge her with getting work started on fortifying Yohnber. She agrees and leaves. Nex rejoins the party and will be coming with us on our journey to kill the Orcs. We set out to buy some potions. We come to the temple of the Neighbor, and the priest there turns out to be a vampire who survives in the sunlight because of religious sigils inscribed all over his body. We tell him about working with the vampire at Roth. We talk to one of his initiates to buy some potions and healing scrolls. Lia buys 6 regular Healing Potions, Daos buys 4 regular Healing Potions. Session 41 Lydia decides to accompany us to the Underdark to hunt the Orcs. We count up our rations and meet up with Julie, Rance's captain of guards, and head down. We walk for hours without her speaking at all. She communicates with Nex using Drow hand gestures. After 5 or 6 hours, we start noticing the tunnels open up into linked caverns. We come to a large open cavern with a lake and streams coming off of it. We decide to rest here. Julie tells us we are two thirds of the way to the orcs. We stay here for the night.